Top critical review

This is a Showtime movie. 5 young adults, one of which is blind (Devon Gummersall, a victim of lawn darts), travel to a remote place in the desert called "Area 52" to party. To the dismay of the driver Gretchen (Tina Illman) Trip (Scott Whyte) has brought along party favors which he has stolen and the dealer wants back. Cookie (Arielle Kebbel) is the perky traveler and Nelson (Derek Richardson) make up the crew.

On their way to the world's biggest rave, their vehicle breaks down at the "Half Way Motel," a twilight zone looking place that appears to have been recently deserted. They have faint radio signals and they believe there has been some sort of disaster and the roads are blocked off. Then they start to see dead people. The problem I had with this film is that it is a common horror movie theme that has been overdone. Outside of that, it was a fairly decent horror film.

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This is a Showtime movie. 5 young adults, one of which is blind (Devon Gummersall, a victim of lawn darts), travel to a remote place in the desert called "Area 52" to party. To the dismay of the driver Gretchen (Tina Illman) Trip (Scott Whyte) has brought along party favors which he has stolen and the dealer wants back. Cookie (Arielle Kebbel) is the perky traveler and Nelson (Derek Richardson) make up the crew.

On their way to the world's biggest rave, their vehicle breaks down at the "Half Way Motel," a twilight zone looking place that appears to have been recently deserted. They have faint radio signals and they believe there has been some sort of disaster and the roads are blocked off. Then they start to see dead people. The problem I had with this film is that it is a common horror movie theme that has been overdone. Outside of that, it was a fairly decent horror film.

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I watch this recently and afterwards thought that it was'nt too bad.Usual story of some people stuck in the middle of nowhere and a thing chasing them around.In this case the thing is quite undescribable as i could'nt really work out what it was but anyway the story unravels towards the end and believe me i did'nt see it coming.I would say a good film all the way through and a great finale.Recommended to horror fans and anyone who is willing to give the film a try.

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I am a massive horror fan, always have been. I like to see original plots and ideas sadly there are not a lot of these about nowadays. If a decent formula is found they get repeated by making continuous sequels e.g. Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween and more recently Saw. All are original and classic movies. On the flip side we have remakes mostly from Japanese films, The Grudge, Ring etc. mostly decent movies. Reeker falls into the later group, a remake. Unfortunately not a very good one. Whether or not the writer/ director realised it or not he has actually made a remake of a very good little known horror film from 2003 called Dead End. Same premise, similar plot, same twist at the end. It is also a much better film. More tension, more mystery, better actors and better humour. Buy this instead

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Reeker is written & directed by David Payne and stars Devon Gummersall, Arielle Kebbel, Derek Richardson, Scott Whyte, Eric Mabius & Michael Ironside. Plot sees a group of young adventures set out for a party at Area 51, only to find themselves forced to spend the night at some apparently empty town in the desert. Sure enough it turns out to be some kind of evil place where something is stalking them accompanied by the smell of decaying death.

Once you have seen one "youths getting killed off one by one" movie you have seen them all, right? Well not exactly, on occasions the odd movie pops out that is inventive and brings something new to the horror table. Reeker has ideas to be something different within the confines of the safe formula but ultimately runs out of steam for its last quarter. The desert setting is one that is well used both in horror and science fiction, but Reeker keeps things interesting courtesy of the unique creature of the title. Cleverly hidden from us for most of the film, the titular stalker signals its arrival by literally stinking the place up. As it goes about its merry kill fest, with an array of bizarre instruments of death, we only get little snatches of what it actually is, cloaked in a sort of shimmering heat haze. Even once the creature is revealed to us it's not a let down, a gruesome thing that moves in juddering off kilter movements. But then sadly the last quarter and its pay off leaves much to be desired.

It here that not only has the film lost all freshness and daring, but also that one cant help feeling a touch cheated. Entering a film of this type its kind of a given that most the characters will be annoying and either do or say stupid things. With of course one of them proving to be spunky and resourceful. But that side of the formula only gets some slack cut if the ending delivers something of note to reward the forgiving public's patience. Sadly Reeker only induces cries of "oh is that it then"? It's the sort of pay off that Rod Serling turned out in his sleep over 50 years ago. And Payne is no Rod Serling. The cast are mostly effective for what is required, tho Ironside fans should not get too excited for it's a cameo of sorts. Best of the bunch is Gummersall who doesn't let his blind character revert to stereotype, whilst the annoying actor award goes to Scott Whyte who channels Sean William Scott; badly. There was enough interest in the film to warrant a sequel three years later, which given the novel creature at its core is not hard to understand. But ultimately Reeker just about comes out above average and stands as a piece unable to fully deliver on its promise. 6/10

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We rented this film due to the title. With a name like Reeker what else could a person expect? We weren't proven wrong.

This is a cliched teen 'horror'. A group of teenagers break down in the middle of nowehere and are forced to stay the night in a creepy deserted motel. Sound original? No, didn't think so. But wait it gets better. Each one of them are hunted by a seemingly invisible being intent on destroying them.

The cast are virtual unknowns. I acknoweldge that in itself there is nothing wrong with this...everyone's got to start somewhere. The casting team should have just started somewhere else.

The script is minimal. If you actually sit down and taken into account the amount that's said in this film you'll find it's very little. The film consists of mainly screen shots which are so dark you can't see what's meant to be scaring you.

The nationality of Gretchen seems to be disputed throughout the film. One minute her accent is sort of English, then it's Australian, then it's South African, then someone states that she's Australian, then in another part of the film she seems to have become South African again. Consistency at it's best.

The effects deserve a special mention though. The 'earthquake' near the start is just clearly someone shaking the camera while the cast jiggle about a bit. The Reeker's effects...,well..., we think someone just held a lighter under the camera lense to capture the heat waves. That's about the extent of the special effects.

As for the much rated twist at the end...alright I didn't see it coming, but it's not exactly up there with Saw in the twist stakes.

Please folks unless like us you want to rent a film for comic value only steer well clear. It's a terrible film, with a poor cast, little dialect and very little to keep you on the edge of your seat.

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A group of people are travelling to a rave. One of their number, the aptly named Trip(Scott Whyte), has made off with a large number of drugs from a dealer without paying. When he informs the designated driver Gretchen(Tina Illman) of their illicit cargo, she informs him that he's going to have to find his own way from now on. Gretchen drives Trip back to the diner where they had stopped previously for a rest. The diner is now a very different place. Dark and barren, devoid of life and there is a strange smell in the air. Oh, and there are dead people walking about....Okay, this film is extremely derivative. The Final Destination series, Dead End, Wind Chill, Carnival Of Souls, I could go on and on. Despite having virtually no original bones in its body, I still really enjoyed this supernatural slasher. The characters who initially come across as quite annoying grow into proper three dimensional characters as the film progresses,and I cared about their fates. The resourceful Jack(Devon Gummersal) is an especially good characterisation, using his other senses to compensate for his blindness. There is a nice line of dark humour running through the film and the story remains entertaining throughout. The only things that marr the film in my opinion, are some poor CGI effects and a spot of over familiarity. Whilst it doesn't reach the macabre heights of the excellent Dead End, a film that it apes at regular intervals, Reeker remains a very decent effort and doesn't deserve the scorn some reviewers have poured onto it. 4 out of 5

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Nothing new in five American teenagers going on a road trip and falling foul of [insert you monster or redneck family of choice here]. However, every once in a while a film comes along that tells a tried and tested story, but with enough flair to make it just that little bit more memorable.

`Reeker' tells the story of five American teenagers going on a road trip and falling foul of... do you really need to know? If you watch the sort of film where these beautiful kids keep getting killed off by one monster/cannibal after the next, it doesn't matter who's doing the deed, only that it's entertaining. And Reeker is entertaining, just.

First of all, for a low budget flick, the gore is nicely done. There are also some vaguely humorous moments to lighten the mood. Secondly, the killer is nicely done and moves in a genuinely creepy way (possibly a distant cousin of the `Peeper' in Jeepers Creepers).

However, where Reeker falls down is that, although the film may be nice and well done, there's nothing particularly new here - not enough to really set it up as a classic. There's still the old `have sex and die' cliché, plus the "I'll be right back" (and die) cliché, followed by the attempted twist in the tale cliché. And, once the clichés start coming, what charm the film has starts to dwindle.

You'll probably have guessed which characters live and die within the first few minutes of meeting them - they're all pretty stereotypical, so there's not too much in the way of suspension.

Basically, if you like the sound of Reeker (and that type of movie in general), you could certainly do worse than this. I didn't feel like I wasted an hour and a half of my life watching it, but I'm not sure I could be bothered to sit through it again, simply because I have a dozen better versions of this movie in my DVD collection already.

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A distinctive horror that was produced at a time when studios were starting to re-embrace the idea of gore and carnage on-screen, Reeker has an enjoyably twisted premise set in a rather over-familiar location.Road-tripping teen friends end up stuck in a roadside cafe-stop overnight when their vehicle breaks down, with some weird and disturbing signs that they might have picked a very bad place to wait for help. The characters are a fun and distinctive mix, with all of the usual steroetypes but also a blind guy who's played with a degree of realism and normality, and a comedy pill-head who also gets some nicely dramatic scares and tension.The Reeker of the title is the noxious stench they keep smelling that usually precedes some viciously gory event, and while it's depicted for much of the movie as a good kind of 'rippling air' CGI effect, when it finally makes its physical appearance on screen it's also freakishly enjoyable.The film does have some strange and seemingly incoherent moments that are tied up at the end, but it's worth bearing with it as these are intentional, and the sense of mild disorientation actually helps the scares. The gore during the opening is pretty eye catching and something special, and while I hated the ending when I saw it at the cinema, I've decided on re-watching that it actually works really well.A fun, and well-strung and played 'what's going on?' horror with some great moments.

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I adore Horror films and am constantly on the lookout for modern horrors that can both suprise and be inventive, Reeker falls short of the mark, although I will give them credit for trying. I can cope with the fact that this movie is a complete Horror cliche, sometimes the genral Horror cliche can work but on this occasion it fails for a few reasons. The opening scene shows promise, however its a good 30 minutes before anything else interesting happens, in this time I found the charactors irritating and couldnt wait for them to get slaine (Not such a bad thing!), inparticular the very weak female who is in this film anyhow, is an appalling actress also they recruited decent actors in Ironside and Mabius but criminaly under use them. The biggest gripe for me is the lack of time the film spends on the Killer/Monster, who once you actually see him after about 70 minutes has potential but is nowhere near utilised enough! The ending is intended to be 'intelligent' but for me its just a turgid 'it was only a dream esque' mess and only inhances what I thought about the poor use of the Reeker himself!